How Do Thieves Unwind? They Play Card Games - Card Crawl Adventure

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When reading fantasy books or watching fantasy movies, I always find myself wondering where the scoundrels and cutthroats that live in these tales go to have fun. Surely they must enjoy more than just ransacking shops and stealing gold from travelers along dusty roads. They need to have fun and wind down somehow, right? Well, it seems like I’ve finally answered that question through Card Crawl Adventure.

This week I discovered Card Crawl Adventure, a solitaire-style deckbuilding title that merges the classic card game formula with elements of a roguelike dungeon crawler. This free-to-play title with limited microtransactions serves as a spin-off of the 2015 game Card Crawl.

Like Hearthstone, Card Crawl Adventure takes place in a cozy tavern. But instead of orcs and elves laughing and singing while drinking ale and playing card games, Card Crawl Adventure’s pub is filled with scoundrels, rogue mages, and unusual-looking creatures. These characters don’t mean harm, though. They just wanted to completely obliterate me in a normal game of Card Crawl Adventure—which I can say I tried my best not to let happen.

Card Crawl Adventure’s wacky-yet-dark, cartoonish visual design first captured my attention before even playing the game. I’ve grown accustomed to the fun, lighthearted graphics of most card games, so Card Crawl Adventure’s eerie backdrop, cutthroat characters, and hellish-looking cards made me feel somewhat uneasy. But that uneasiness added to the atmosphere of playing table games in some distant, grimy tavern.

I wasn’t just surrounded by scoundrels, though; Card Crawl Adventure also allowed me to play as one. The game’s character system allows you to choose between a variety of mysterious characters whose shoes you can step into, from a robot to a vampire troll. The only catch is that these characters cost one dollar each. Only one of these choices isn’t locked behind a one-dollar paywall: the humble thief. That said, Card Crawl Adventure does kindly employ a system where you can test out a new character to see if you like their style before you pay for them.

Whether you end up playing as a thief, robot, or monster, every character brings a unique set of cards and items to the table. These distinctions between characters made Card Crawl Adventure’s gameplay feel dynamic. I was able to mix up the rhythm of gameplay whenever I wanted. And even that sole free character, the thief, is enjoyable and worth playing with.

Combat was also quite worthwhile and entertaining in Card Crawl Adventure. You face enemies on a nine-by-nine grid and must chain moves by selecting the cards on each grid square and linking them. By linking these cards, I stacked damage and connected that power to an enemy card, unleashing tremendous attacks. And of course to win each match, I had to drain my enemy’s health points while protecting my own.

If the gameplay in Card Crawl Adventure is relatively straightforward and in keeping with card game norms, the card descriptions and status effects require a lot more effort to understand. Although the game’s tutorial was thorough enough to teach me the basics, the more complicated mechanics were never really explained. I played for at least an hour with no clue what I was doing before I very slowly started piecing things together.

To give an example, one of the status effects in Card Crawl Adventure is “bleed.” When this is inflicted on an enemy, they take damage at the end of a turn. However, the game never explained this to me; I just had to figure it out on my own. Unraveling some of the more complicated elements of Card Crawl Adventure required reading the in-game guide, and let me tell you, the last thing I wanted to do while playing this card game was sit and read a manual.

Complicated mechanics aside, Card Crawl Adventure is still a good game. Its unique gameplay style and cartoonish visual design make for a fun and refreshing experience that stands apart from other card games. Although some mechanics need improvement, the game provides a nearly endless drip of challenging new scenarios and situations that will keep card games fanatics like myself busy for a long time to come.

SCORE: 3 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Pawnbarian. Suppose you love the thrill of playing dungeon crawlers and exploring areas like Pawnbarian. In that case, you may enjoy the roguelike gameplay and bosses you can defeat across taverns in Card Crawl Adventure. Feel free to read my review of Pawnbarian on TapTap.

• Nova Island. If you enjoy playing unique card games like Nova Island, you may enjoy playing Card Crawl Adventure. Feel free to dive into my review of Nova Island on TapTap.

💬 Have you ever played Card Crawl Adventure? What else do you think scoundrels do in their free time? Maybe play chess too?

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